Wichita eagle., 1887-08-30
cE---As e
AN ENGLISH STAG HUNT.
A Correspondents Description of What
Nav Be Considered a Tame Affair.

A Correspondents Description of What
May Be Considered Tame Affair.
Now, for the information Of such readers
as may not know what stag hunt, as carried
on in England, is, let me endeavor to describe
one. assume that everybody out of England
has an idea what an actual stag hunt would
be. But unless they saw an English stag
hunt, Or heard one described, it would be i'm
possible for the mind of man to conceive an
idea of what an English stag hunt was, for as
a sport" an English stag hunt is sui generis
On the morning named for the hunt (gener-
| ally two or three times a week. the members
assemble Oh horseback at the place named
| for the meet. There is always good as
| semblage of swells; for stag hunting is "a
| swell sport, as well as a national one, no less
a person than the queen herself owning pack
of stag hounds, consisting of forty couples, the
| largest pack in England. The '1master" of
this pack is the Earl of Coventry, who gets
fifteen hundred a year as well IS the honor.
| A covered cart drawn by stout horse
comes into the field where the gentlemen and
women are assembled and draws up near the
"master," the only man in "pink," the other
members wearing dark cloth coats. In this
cart is the stag" At the hour appointed for
the hunt to begin the master gives the order to
| 'uncart." Thereupon the whips" proceed to
open the doors at the back Of the cart to let
out the deer. A novice generally expects to
see a fiery, unnamed animal, with flashing eye
and snorting nostril, spring forth and dash
away at full speed He is disappointed. The
stag" is either on old hand, who knows from
experience how much better he is where heis,
or a shy and shrinking animal, naturally
| averse to showing himself in the presence of
a concourse Of inimical people and pack of
| dripping iowled dogs. In either case force
| has to be used to eject him. He is shouted at,
| hustled, poked with sticks, dragged by the
| feet, Tail and horns and the walls Of his Sc
! cure prison hammered on all sides.
At last he is coaxed or dragged out. He
| looks about him knowingly and timidly and
tries to sneak back; but the door of the cart
is quickly closed and he is favored with a
few more boots and shoves. He catches a
glimpse of the hounds and sees there is moth
ing for him but to take to his heels He is
allowed ten minutes claw" and then the
"hunt" start in pursuit As soon as he is
found, overtaken and run into' by the
hounds, the days sport" is over. The hounds
are whipped and beaten off him, but not be-
fore he has had some rough usage in sundry
rents in his "velvet coat" and he is then put
back i'll the cart and kept for another rum
OF course there are times when stag runs
away in grand style and shows fight to the
hounds, but will leave it to any one who
knows to say if the above is not fair pict-
ure of at least some of the stag hunts which
take place in England-London Cor. Argo-
naut.
There is o very funny story told OF Newark
husband and wife. The husband thought
lessly said something rejecting on the femi-
nine dress of the present day. "a woman is
all steel springs and wires and complicated
harness nowadways" he said, tossing corset
from the chair he wanted to SIT down in and
finging wire hustle into the corner. why
don't you get whole suit of steel armor and
be done with it.'
She said nothing-so the story r,lns-but
waited until be went to sleep, and then began
an inventory of his "harness"
Leaving out his eye glasses and chain, she
began at his neckwear Here she found two
gold collar buttons to secure the collar, two
patent spring catches to keep the necktie from
slipping over the head and another to secure
the end Of the scarf to the shirt bosom. On the
sleeves of his shirt were two elastics with
spring clips at each end, and his cuffs, besides
being held together with link buttons, were
provided with nickel plated holders, with
which they were secured to the shirt sleeves.
Three spiral studs decorated the front of the
shirt and pin was stuck in his scarf. She
made entries OF all these things and then be-
gan on his clothing. His patent shoulder
brace, pulley action, snap jointed suspenders
were noted, and her keen eyes observed that
one Of the suspender buttons was of the kind
that is attached with q safety pin and is
known as bachelors button She also found
that he had S4.75 in his pocket, and she di
vided it as fairly as possible, taking out pay
for her trouble in making the inventory.
Examining the vest, she found that it had
a metallic compensating back strap composed
of four spiral springs and two buckles. In
one pocket she found patent lead pencil
guard, in another a combined button hook
glove buttoner and ring. The back Of his
coat was provided with a patent chain
hanger his stockings were equipped with
supporters of elastic cord with metal snaps
and his shoes were secured with buttons
which were put on with patent metal fasten- |
ings. She studied his hat for some time with |
out noticing that the brim was wired, but she |
did not fail to see that bis gloves were fas- |
tened with steel springs, and when she added |
his watch chain and finger rings to the list Of |
hardware and harness she retired to sleep |
with considerable satisfaction. He read the |
list in the morning in silence, and when he |
came home to dinner in the evening be gave |
her pair of earrings which she had been |
teasing him for-New York Graphic.